


bare

by airbefore



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-05
Updated: 2012-06-05
Packaged: 2017-11-06 23:25:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/424380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airbefore/pseuds/airbefore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing about their relationship has ever been conventional or predictable so why would this be any different?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Oh dear. My first multi-chapter. Can't believe I'm doing this. As always, big thanks to [](http://sparkles-mouse.livejournal.com/profile)[**sparkles_mouse**](http://sparkles-mouse.livejournal.com/) and [](http://rgcraeg.livejournal.com/profile)[**rgcraeg**](http://rgcraeg.livejournal.com/) for all the support, encouragement and ass kicking.

Three weeks. Three weeks and she’s still overwhelmed by him. The way his body feels against hers, warm and broad and hard. The fierce kisses that make her head spin, her knees weak. The incendiary touches that pull sounds from her throat that she would be ashamed of if it didn’t feel so damn _good_.

His mouth wages war on her body. Lips and tongue dragging across her stomach, teeth scraping at the thin flesh over her hips. He draws her to the edge with his deliberate ministrations; leaves her teetering on the brink, desperate for release.

Kate threads her fingers through his hair as he runs his tongue along her inner thigh, forces herself not to curl her fingers and yank his mouth to where she wants it. Needs it. He loves to toy with her, make her writhe and mewl and beg for his touch. She’s never let anyone have this much control over her body, always prefered to be the instigator and dominator. But to him she gives herself over freely. Lets him pin her down and command her, his voice as rough as his hands are soft.

Her hips twitch as Castle holds his mouth over her, blows a stream of hot air across her folds. She can feel her arousal pooling, anticipates the delicious moan he’ll let out when he touches her, bears witness to how much she wants him. He teases them both with glancing touches, parting her with just the tip of his tongue before darting away to nip at the crease of her thigh. She whines low in her throat, digs her heels into the hard muscles of his back when she feels him huff a laugh against her fevered skin.

“Castle,” her voice is broken and thin, needy. “Castle, ple-”

The plea turns to ashes on her tongue as he covers her with his mouth, slips his tongue and two fingers between her folds. He growls, deep and feral, when he tastes her, the vibrations skipping across her nerves, a series of tiny electric bursts that culminate in an explosion of fireworks behind her eyes.

Yes.

Yes.

“ _Yes._ ” Her cry bounces off the walls, echoes back, brings the hair on her arms to attention. “God, yes, Castle.”

He works at her in earnest, licking and sucking her clit while his fingers play at her entrance, dipping into her shallowly before retreating to trace her folds. The hand on his head fists, her nails scraping across his scalp, fingers pulling roughly at his hair. Castle moans as he laves over her, his inherent need to make noise alive and well even in this.

Her back bows violently when he finally enters her, two thick fingers curling and twisting, searching for the spot he’s come to know so well over the past twenty-one days. He presses his fingertips into her spasming walls and she feels the muscles in her legs go loose and liquid, her thighs quivering against his shoulders.

“Cas - Oh! _Castle._ ” She mutters a steady stream of curses and prayers, never sure which is which.

He slides his free hand up her stomach until he meets hers, covers her fingers as she pinches and rolls her nipple. She feels him smile against her and looks down to see him watching her, his eyes bright and wide. He pushes his hand under hers, her breast fitting snugly into his palm. Scraping his teeth over her clit, he tugs firmly on her nipple and her entire body reacts, tensing and arching off the bed, a guttural moan clawing its way up her throat.

“Fuck, Castle. Don’t stop. Don’t - “ She’s panting, the words pouring unchecked from her lips, her legs clenched tightly over his shoulders. “Oh, god. Your mouth. I love - Don’t stop.” A white hot flame licks through her body when he sucks hard on her clit and scissors his fingers. Her hips buck and thrust, riding his hand and mouth as he pushes her higher.

“Castle,” she cries as she tips and and falls, crashes headlong into her orgasm. “Oh god, I love you. Fuck, Rick. I love you.”

His fingers and lips never stop as she tumbles, gets pulled under by the swift current of her pleasure. Her hips slow as she drifts back to solid ground, her legs dropping from his shoulder, landing boneless and quaking on the bed. He’s lapping at her gently, watching her when she opens her eyes and looks down at him. Unclenching her fist, Kate slides her fingers around to the back of his head, urges him up.

Castle smiles into her skin and starts to crawl slowly up the bed, trailing a line of hot, lazy kisses across her body as he rises. Supporting himself on straight arms, fists pushed into the mattress on either side of her ribs, he hovers over her, his tongue flicking at her nipple. Kate growls, impatient, and wraps her fingers around his ears, pulling his face up to hers.

She scrapes her nails down his back, assaults his mouth. Can taste herself on his tongue, feel herself on his slick lips. Dropping down to his elbows, his chest pinning her to the mattress, hips nestled between her still quivering thighs, Castle slows the kiss. Takes it from savage to reverent as he runs his hands through her hair, ghosts the pads of his fingers along her jaw.

Kate pulls back, searches his face. Sees the love and contentment she feels reflected back at her.

“I meant it,” she whispers, tracing the tip of one finger across his lips, watching the words sink in. His eyes flash, joy and fear streaking across his face before he schools his features into a calculated façade of smug confidence.

“I know,” he leers at her, voice low, all false bravado and repressed hope. “You’ve been quite vocal about your affection for my mouth on many an occasion, Beckett.”

Sighing softly, Kate lifts her head, pushes her lips into his. She’s been trying to find the words to tell him how much he means to her for three weeks. No, longer. Months. This wasn’t how she wanted it to happen but she finds a certain sense of harmony in it. Nothing about their relationship has ever been conventional or predictable so why would this be any different?

She pushes on his shoulder, nudging him over onto his side; uses the momentum to roll him onto his back, her body draped over his chest, thighs bracketing his hips. His hands coast up and down her sides, fingers pressing lightly into her skin, making her shiver. She kisses him gently, worshiping his lips and tongue with her own.

He keeps his eyes closed when she pulls back, hums low in his throat as she runs her fingers over his face, drags them across his cheeks, pausing in the subtle dips where his smile hides.

“Castle.”

His eyes drift slowly open, soft and deep, questioning. The love she feels for him in this moment threatens to overtake her, to pull her so far under that she’ll never find a way out. And what scares her is that it _doesn’t_. She could live inside this moment for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy.

“I don’t need an out. I don’t _want_ one. I meant it, Castle.” Her voice is soft but strong, clear; she doesn’t want him to have any doubt about the truths she’s speaking.

“I love you.” She feels his chest hitch, his heart pounding under her breast. Her eyes never stray from his as he searches her face. She opens herself up, lets him see it all. Lets him see what she’s spent the better part of two years hiding. “I’m _in_ love with you, Rick. And I’m sorr-”

He surges up into her, lips hot and insistent, swallowing her apology, sucking it from her lips with the searing curl of his tongue. She moans into his mouth as he devours her, one hand fisting in her hair, the other cupped firmly over the swell of her ass. Castle rips his mouth from hers, drags his teeth along the sharp line her her jaw, the hand in her hair tugging and twisting. Dropping her head to the side, she exposes her neck for him, shudders when he slides the flat of his tongue across her, sucks forcefully at the pulse he finds jumping under her pale skin.

Wrapping his arm firmly around her waist, Castle rolls them back over, pinning her beneath him again. His eyes are wild and shining as he looks down at her, his heaving chest brushing across her peaked nipples. Smiling, Kate skates her palm down the arm around her waist, tangles her fingers with his. Hooking her leg high on his waist, she nudges him with her heel, pulling his hips down into the cradle of her thighs. She brings their joined hands to her lips, places light kisses against his fingertips, lets her tongue trace the whorls and calluses.

“I love you,” she whispers around the pad of the thumb trapped between her teeth. With her free hand, she reaches between their bodies, grasps him firmly. He groans as she rubs him through her folds, coating them both with her arousal. “I love you, Castle.”

One smooth thrust of his hips and he buries himself inside her, their twin cries colliding in the scant space between their lips. He sets a steady pace, his hips crashing into her, hers rising to meet his. His forehead drops to the curve of her neck as he moves inside her, long, deep strokes that make her feel full and alive.

Lips feather over her, whispering nonsense words of love into her skin as he loses himself in her body. His hands quest across her; skating along the back of her thigh, skimming down her stomach, dancing across her breasts. His eyes burn bright and incandescent when she begs him, implores him to move harder faster deeper. More. She wants more.

Castle’s lips fall to her breast, the quick, firm strokes of his hips working in counterpoint to his tongue and teeth over her nipples. Kate cries out, her body arching up into him when he snakes a hand between them, presses his thumb against her clit. His body is hot and heavy above her, holding her down, breaking her apart.

“Cas-” Words crowd her throat, too much, too many casting a bid for freedom at once. She sinks her teeth into his shoulder as her orgasm starts, his name broken and jagged in her mouth. She shatters around him, under him. For him.

His hips are tight and sloppy, short jerking strokes with no pace or rhythm. His body quivers with desperation, his muscles knotted and coiled under her hands. Kate brings one hand to his face, pulls his lips away from her chest. She kisses him viciously, hard and fast, drags her teeth across his jaw. Sucking his earlobe into her mouth, she bites down, rolls her tongue around the soft flesh.

“Let go,” she rasps, harsh and breathy, her hands sliding down the broad expanse of his back. “I love you, Castle. Just let go.”

With a deep, guttural cry, he slams into her, her name tumbling from his lips as he comes; forceful pulses of blinding heat that send her careening back over the cliff with him, her nails clawing at the firm roundness of his ass.

They collapse on the bed, a sweaty, heaving mass of limbs and skin. Castle rolls to the side, slipping out of her, and pulls her into him. He peppers light kisses across her crown, drifting down to her forehead and cheeks.

Kate open her eyes, smiles when she sees the look of pure adoration painted across his face. He traces a finger down the slope of her nose, circles her lips, skims across her chin.

“Say it again?” His voice is soft and awed and her heart breaks a little at the sound.

She looks him in the eye, presses her palm over his heart.

“I love you.”

Castle shivers, tugs her firmly up against him, his arms wrapped tightly around her, legs tangled. She presses her lips to his skin, lays her head against his chest. His blood rushes under her ear, singing for her, for them. She feels his lips graze across her forehead when he speaks, the words tumbling into her hair, light and teasing.

“Took you long enough.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Please don’t do this, Kate.”

They’re standing less than eight feet apart but it feels like miles to him, the chasm between them too large to be contained within the four walls of his office. 

“It’s my job, Castle.”

Seven months. 

Seven months and nine days since she came to him in the middle of the night, wet and broken and ready. Six months since they left for his house in the Hamptons, embarked on their first blisteringly hot summer together. Four months since the crisp winds of fall brought with them her restlessness and she petitioned to get her job back. 

“I know it’s your job, Kate. But this case - you _can’t_.” He knows he sounds pathetic and desperate; it’s how he feels. He can’t let her do this. “It’s too dangerous.”

“It’s not the danger that scares you,” she asserts, her words even and deliberate. “It’s me. You don’t trust me.”

“You know that’s not true.” He holds a hand up beseechingly when she scoffs at him. “This has nothing to do with me trusting you. It’s this case. It’s _them_.”

“I’m not actively searching for them, Castle; I’m simply following a lead.” 

“A lead that is taking you straight _to_ them!” She takes a step back at his explosion, eyes wide. “How many times have they tried to kill you, Kate? If you keep pushing this, they’re going to come after you again. And this time they won’t stop until they succeed. Until you’re dead.”

“We’ve had this argument before,” she sighs, exasperation rolling off her in waves. “It’s fine, Rick. I’m being safe.”

“This is Maddox, Kate. He shot you in the chest in broad daylight, in a sea of cops.” Castle takes a step toward her, tries to keep his voice low and calm. He doesn’t want to fight about this but he has to make her see. Make her understand. “He threw you off a roof. How many more chances are you going to give him?” He swallows hard, his tongue thick and heavy. “I can’t lose you, Kate. Not now. Not like this.” 

“This isn’t about you.” 

“Yes, it is.” His tone is harsh, insistent. “It _is_ about me. It’s about us. About the life we’re building together. You can’t throw that all away because -”

“I thought you understood that I’m not that person anymore,” she cuts in, her tone sharp and biting. “I’m not obsessed. I’m not single mindedly chasing this down.” Kate takes a deep breath, shoves her hands forcefully through her hair. Her shoulders roll forward on the exhale, closing her chest. Shutting him out. “I’m not throwing anything away, Castle. I’m doing my _job_.”

“Please,” he takes another step forward, hands held out in supplication, “hand it off. Let Ryan and Esposito handle it.”

“I can’t do that and you know it. I can’t ask them to risk their lives in place of mine.”

“Kate-”

“No, Castle,” she sighs, her body sagging. “Look, I can’t do this right now. I’m tired and we’re getting nowhere.”

“Ok,” he concedes, his tone soft, conciliatory. “Ok, let’s go to bed. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

Kate looks up, her eyes dim and stormy. He sucks in a sharp breath, knows that he’s not going to like whatever she’s about to say. 

“I think it’s best if I sleep at my place tonight.” Her words are muted by the violent rush of blood through his ears as his heart hammers, struggles to keep him upright. “If I stay here, we’ll just end up stressed out and tiptoeing around each other. I should go.” 

She moves across the room, slides on the shoes she’d abandoned by his desk earlier in the evening. Before it all fell apart. Kate keeps her head down as she gathers her things- keys and badge and coat - her face hidden behind the curtain of her hair. 

Without thinking about it, his hand shoots out to grab her arm when she moves to walk past, to leave. His fingers close around her wrist and he tugs, twists her around to face him. Castle takes just a moment to register the look of mild surprise on her face before using his free hand to grasp her by the back of the neck, pull her lips to his. 

The kiss is frantic, demanding. He uses his lips and tongue to tell her all the things his words have failed to convey. How much loves her. Needs her. Is terrified of losing her. She kisses him back, gives as good as she gets, her lips firm against his, teeth sharp. 

Castle backs her up, pins her to the wall. One hand fists in her hair, the other gripping her tightly at the waist. Kate’s hips push forward into his, a moan riding low in her throat as she ravages his mouth. Her keys and badge clatter to the floor, hands coming up to clutch at his shoulders. 

“I can’t, Kate,” he mumbles, his lips tingling from the ferocity of her kiss. “I walked away from you once but I can’t do it again.” Castle pulls back, gently caressing the line of her neck with the tips of his fingers. “I can’t even begin to think about a life without you anymore. I can’t watch you die. Again.”

Slim fingers thread through his hair and she pulls him back to her mouth, pushes herself up into him. He lets her control the kiss, fast and hard, while his hands roam her body, tugging her closer, desperate to feel her pressed up against him, firm and responsive and _alive_. 

Castle pushes the coat from her shoulders, lets it puddle around them on the hardwood floor. His fingers pluck at the buttons on her shirt, frantic to get through the fabric, to feel her skin under his hands. She sucks his bottom lip into her mouth, bathes it with her tongue, her body turning warm and liquid under his touch. 

When her shirt joins the coat at their feet, Kate pushes on his chest, walks her body into his. He stumbles back, lips releasing hers with an audible pop. 

“Castle, listen to me.” Her words are a breathy rasp, hot and dry against his skin. “I love my job. I do.” She walks him backward across the room as she speaks, her fingers deftly unfastening the buttons on his shirt, tugging it down his arms. “But I don’t _live_ for it anymore.”

The backs of his knees collide with the soft leather of his office chair and Castle drops down into it, watches as she pops the button on her slacks, lets them slide carelessly to the floor. Clad only in her lacy red bra and matching underwear, Kate braces her hands on the back of the chair and climbs into his lap, her long legs sliding in smoothly next to his thighs, bent knees brushing against the sensitive skin at his waist.

“It’s just a job now, Castle,” she sighs, cradles his face in her hands. “It’s not my life. You are. We are.” She brushes her thumb lightly across his cheek, stares intently into his eyes. “What matters now is that at the end of the day, when I’m done with the job, I go home with you.” 

She leans forward and kisses him, her lips feathering lightly over his, soft and damp and full of promise. Promise for them, for their future. For a life together. A life he so desperately wants. 

“Move in with me.” 

Kate slowly sits back, rests herself low on his thighs. Her face is unreadable, questions and emotions flitting through her eyes so quickly that he doesn’t even have a hope of cataloging them all. 

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Move in with me, Kate.” His hands span her slim waist, thumbs making tiny circles over the warm skin of her stomach. “I want you to come home _to_ me not just with me.” 

“Castle, you -” Her voice catches and she closes her eyes, takes a deep cleansing breath. He’s seen her do this many times over the past seven months; knows it’s one of her lines of defense, how she wards off the panic. He tightens his grip on her waist- holding her to him, keeping her grounded - and waits her out. 

Slowly, she releases the breath, the muscles in her core loosening under his hands as she expels the tension along with the air. Her eyes slide open, seek out his. Castle meets her gaze, forces himself not to flinch or shy away from the force of her stare. 

“You’re sure this is what you want? You’re not jumping to this just because you’re upset?”

“What I want? Kate,” he chuckles softly around her name, smiles when he sees her eyes lighten at the sound, “I wanted to ask you to move in about three minutes after you kissed me at my front door. That I waited this long should really be considered a miracle.” 

She laughs, a bright, happy sound that fills his chest, makes his skin buzz. Her hair falls over her shoulder as she leans forward, the ends brushing against his chest when she presses her lips to his cheek. 

“Yes, Castle.” She dips her tongue in the hollow behind his ear, hot breath dripping down his neck. He shivers, pulls her body up against his chest. “Yes.”

His hands dive into her hair, fisting in the thick curls, pulling her questing mouth off his neck. Her hands slide down his bare chest, nails scraping over the flushed skin, fingers landing on his belt as he claims her mouth. He groans when she reaches inside his pants, wraps her hand around him through the thin silk of his boxers. 

Wordlessly, she pulls him free from his fabric prison, rises up on her knees. Castle drags his fingers slowly up her thighs, tugs the soaked fabric of her underwear to the side. She sinks down on him, one hand wrapped firmly around his base, the other gripping the high back of the chair. 

His mouth finds her chest as she rides him, tongue painting over the pale expanse of skin in wide, wet strokes. Her pace is hard and fast, the only sounds in the room their labored breathing and the soft squeak of leather on bare skin. 

Kate releases her hold on him, slides her hand inside the waistband of her underwear. The red lace obscures her movements from his view, makes his blood rush, his head pound. He thrusts up into her as forcefully as he dares, watches her head drop back, her throat convulsing as she pants and chokes on half-formed words. 

Her hips take on an erratic twist and pump as she comes around him, her body working to pull him in deeper. Kate slumps forward, his name on her lips, sinks her teeth into the tender flesh of his shoulder, sending him flying over the edge. He pumps into her, hard and hot, clutches her quivering body to his chest. 

She lets out a soft groan when he scoots forward on the chair, pushes himself up into a standing position. Her legs wrap naturally around his waist, her lips dancing over the pounding pulse in his neck. 

“Where are you taking me?”

“Shower. You have to work in the morning.” 

Kate cants her body gently away from his, catches his eye. Her face is flushed and dewy, eyes pensive. 

“You know this doesn’t solve anything? Moving in doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing my job.”

He stops walking when he reaches the bathroom, lowers her gently to the ground. Castle tangles his fingers with hers, brings their joined hands to his mouth. 

“I know,” he whispers, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand. “You’re not going to stop doing your job and I’m not going to stop worrying.” He steps back and reaches into the cavernous shower stall to turn on the water. “But I love you, Kate, and you love me. We both knew what we were getting into when we started this.”

Slowly, he strips off their remaining clothing, pulls her naked body up against his. Steam fills the room, a warm weight pressing into his skin, making his muscles relax, his joints loosen. 

“As long as I know you’re doing everything you can to come home to me, Kate, I’ll be okay.”

A soft smile playing on her lips, she raises a hand, rubs her thumb across his chin. “I’ll try, Rick. I promise.” Kate pushes at his waist, urging him back into the harsh spray of water, smile sliding from serene to seductive. "Now, come on. Let's re-christen _our_ shower."


End file.
